NONE
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of kitchen accessories and more particularly to dish drainers and trays. In its most specific embodiments, the present invention relates to a dish drainer xe2x80x94tray system, the tray being constructed and arranged to be compacted into a size to fit within the drainer for packaging, shipment, in-store display and for storage by the end user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many different types of dish drainer and tray systems are know in the art. Some include the capability of folding to reduce storage space requirements. For example, folding dish drainers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,957 issued Apr. 2, 1974 to Krause for xe2x80x9cCombination Dish Rack and Trayxe2x80x9d and U.S. Pat. No. 3,025,967 issued Mar. 20,1962 to Christophersen and entitled xe2x80x9cDish Drying Rackxe2x80x9d. Folding dish drainers which include a drain board include U.S. Pat. No. 2,443,404 issued Jun. 15, 1948 to Tallarico for xe2x80x9cDrain Board for Dishesxe2x80x9d and U.S. Pat. No. 1,835,232 issued Dec. 8, 1931 to Lord for xe2x80x9cDish Drainerxe2x80x9d.
Dish trays themselves are also well known and may be used without dish draining racks. This is generally considered to be preferable to simply drying dishes or other kitchenware on a dish towel, as is common practice in many households. Trays are shown in U.S. Pat. No. D365,182 issued Dec. 12, 1995 to Zehrung for xe2x80x9cDish Drain Trayxe2x80x9d, U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,485 issued Apr. 21, 1992 to Sciabarassi for xe2x80x9cDrain Boardxe2x80x9d, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,522,921 issued Jan. 13, 1925 to Smiley for xe2x80x9cDish Matxe2x80x9d. The latter includes a coupling between individual mat portions to allow them to fold.
A folding dish rack is also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,714,629 issued May 28, 1929 to Rodin for xe2x80x9cFolding Dish Rackxe2x80x9d. This device includes a framework and several pivotal elements which may be elevated from horizontal to vertical positions depending on the desired use.
Finally, a dish draining system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,638 issued Oct. 2, 1979 to Cirasuuolo et al. for xe2x80x9cDrainboardxe2x80x94Extend-A-Drainxe2x80x9d. In this device, the tray may be stored within a housing and be extended over the sink when in use, as best appreciated from FIGS. 7 and 8 of this patent.
While the above-referenced patents show a variety of prior attempts to reduce storage space requirements for certain dish draining equipment, the systems are not applicable to tough, durable, plastic dish drainer and tray sets, which employ a tray that has a footprint larger than that of the base of the drainer. Such combinations are frequently sold as sets, and for packaging and sale, it is necessary to package the combination in a container, such as a folding carton or corrugated package, which accommodate the component having the largest dimensions, i.e. the tray. Accordingly, a considerable amount of wasted cube results, leading to logistical problems. For example, fewer packages can be transported on a pallet or in a truck, and fewer products can be displayed in a given space on a store shelf.
Consumers are also faced with the need to store both the tray and drainer, since typically these devices are placed on a counter adjacent a sink only after meal times and are left out until the items placed in the drainer have dried completely. Once again, the footprint of the tray typically dictates the storage space required for the set, or the individual components can be separately stored horizontally or vertically in the most convenient location in the users kitchen.
A dish drainer and tray system which could be packaged, shipped and displayed for sale in less space and which could be stored by the consumer in less space, while maintaining the desirable features of toughness and durability, would be a significant advance in this art.
The present invention features a combination dish drainer and tray system in which the tray has a footprint sufficiently large to in accommodate the drainer in a first configuration and may be compacted to a second configuration for storage within the drainer itself.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a dish drainer and tray system in which a tough, durable drainer may be employed with a foldable or rollable tray to reduce the space required to package, ship, display, and store the two components.
A different feature of the present invention is to provide a dish drainer tray which may be folded using live hinges to a sufficiently small size to allow it to fit within a dish drainer.
A still further feature of the present invention is to provide a dish drainer tray which may be rolled and secured in the rolled position.
A different feature of the present invention is to provide a silverware container which may be releasable attached to a dish drainer tray which may be compacted by rolling or folding so that the dish drainer can accommodate both the tray and the silverware container.
How these and other features of the present invention, either singly or in any combination, are accomplished will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the FIGURES. Generally, however, they are provided in a system which includes a dish drainer which may have any desired shape and structure to receive kitchenware, dishes, glasses and the like for drying and which has a base. The system further includes a tray which has a footprint which exceeds the base of the dish drainer and is adapted to receive water from articles placed in the drainer and to guide it toward a sink. In the present invention, the tray may be compacted, such as by rolling or folding, to a configuration to allow it to fit within the drainer. In the preferred embodiments disclosed below, folding is preferentially accomplished using live hinges, while rolling is preferentially accomplished by rolling a flexible tray and self-locking it in the rolled-up position for easy storage within the drainer. In a particularly preferred embodiment, a detachable silverware container is provided and may be coupled to the tray when in use and may be detached therefrom for storage within the drainer. Other ways in which the above-mentioned and other features of the invention are accomplished, will become apparent to those skilled in the art after they have read this specification. All such ways are deemed to fall within the scope of the present invention, if they fall within the scope of the claims which follow.